Dale Budge: All Blacks v Kangaroos...it's a dumb idea

Joshua Dugan of Australia runs down the field to score a try. Photo / Getty

A hybrid game of rugby/rugby league that pits the All Blacks against the Kangaroos is about as well thought-out as L&P flavoured chocolate.

It is just like the ill-conceived turducken [chicken wrapped in duck, wrapped in turkey] at Christmas dinner - combining multiple nice things together doesn't necessarily mean the result will be twice as good. In fact quite often the result is downright awful.

This hybrid game idea is nothing new - it has been talked about before and never got off the ground. But in this day and age where sporting bodies will seemingly do anything to turn a big profit I would guess there might be interest in the concept.

It will be a cheap way to make some easy money but it will do nothing for either game.

Who would win? Well that is the challenge for organisers. If they play something like rugby league with play-the-balls then the Kangaroos will win easily. If there is a break down or a contest for the ball on the ground, the All Blacks will thrash the Kangaroos.

Both teams are about as a good an exponent of their respective sports as you could find.

The fairest way would be to play one half using rugby rules and one half using rugby league rules but that kind of defeats the point of a hybrid game. So what could a hybrid game look like? Can they have play-the-balls but also make post tackle situations a contest? Not very easily so one way or other it will favour one side more than the other.

Which takes us back to the very premise - what is the point in the idea? Surely bragging rights aren't that important are they? Would they really be attracting a new audience or exposing either sport to new people? I'm not sure they are. If it is about making money couldn't they stage a rugby and union double-header that features Australia v New Zealand in each code one after the other? Maybe the combined score decides the winner.

At least that way both teams would be showcasing their sport.

Still the novelty of the hybrid game is more likely to win out and curiosity will get the better of people even if the idea is just dumb.